SE Cupp: Republicans have a huge problem with women | Columnists

SE CUPP Tribune Content

Does Todd Akin’s name mean anything to you? For conservatives who remember the 2012 presidential election all too well, this induces a kind of political PTSD.

Akin, the preferred Republican candidate to oust Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill in Missouri, sent shockwaves through the GOP when he said, in defense of no exceptions to abortion for rape or incest “From what I understand from the doctors, it’s really rare. If this is legitimate rape, the female body has ways of trying to stop it.

The backlash was appropriate and quick. GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, the senses. Kelly Ayotte, Roy Blunt, Scott Brown, Richard Burr, Ron Johnson, Senator Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and others denounced the grotesque and ignorant comments and called on Akin to withdraw his nomination. He refused and was defeated by McCaskill on election day.

The Democrats went on to win two Senate seats, making 2012 the last time that party won an outright Senate majority, and Barack Obama won his re-election bid against Mitt Romney, whom Democrats had effectively called “bad for women”. Some blame Akin for Romney’s loss.

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A decade later, and it’s hard to even remember a Republican Party that was truly appalled by the ignorant, impolitic, and anti-woman comments. Because in today’s GOP – still effortlessly led by Donald “catch ’em by the p—-” Trump – these kinds of comments are so commonplace, they barely register.

They are so abundant, in fact, that there are categories of Republican anti-women.

There are the fraternity brothers – the supernatural immature boy-men who love to cartoonishly cosplay masculinity by growling lame insults and taking cheap jabs at the military.

It’s guys like Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, who, by the way, is under federal investigation for alleged sex trafficking of a 17-year-old girl.

Last weekend, Gaetz typically put his worst foot forward at a gathering of fraternity brothers called the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit, founded by fellow fraternity brother and military critic Charlie Kirk.

“Why are the women least likely to get pregnant the most afraid of having an abortion?” Gaetz asked. “Nobody wants to impregnate you if you look like a thumb.”

Gaetz, a self-proclaimed authority that men want to imbibe, then doubled down on his rating. When asked by a reporter, “Are you suggesting that these women at these abortion rallies are ugly and overweight?” he simply replied, “Yes.”

Fraternity brother Donald Trump Jr. posted the moment on his Instagram page, saying, “Where’s the lie??? Gaetz spittin (fire emojis) and truth. (Yeah that’s how they talk.)

Ordinary elites

Then there are the Everyman Elites, guys who insist – despite their education, tony degrees, personal wealth or work experience – that only they understand the plight of “real” Americans, while all others are “establishment” and not trustworthy.

Last year, JD Vance, a Yale University-educated venture capitalist and Ohio Senate candidate, was asked about fatherhood at an event at Pacific Christian High School in California. He criticized “the sexual revolution” for “making it easier to change spouses like they change their underwear”, and suggested that divorce, even in marriages where there is domestic violence, is harmful to children.

On his popular prime-time show earlier this month, St. George’s Prep graduate and $10 million Fox News man Tucker Carlson used a tragic mass shooting during a 4th of July parade in Illinois to attack women.

It’s apparently our fault that a deranged mass shooter – who threatened to kill his family in 2019 – went on a rampage. Why?

“The authorities in their lives – mostly women – keep lecturing them about their so-called privilege. ” You are a man ! You are privileged.

These are the arguments Everyman Elites think the “real America” wants to hear.

Neanderthals

Then there are the Neanderthals, bullies who often sound more like they belong in caves than in Congress.

Matt Birk, the former NFL player currently running for Minnesota lieutenant governor, said at a national right to life event last month: “Our culture loudly and stealthily promotes abortion, telling women they should look a certain way, they should have a career, all of those things.

Another type of Neanderthal is one accused of assault or domestic violence, and there are more than one who run for office.

Eric Greitens, accused by his ex-wife of physical and child abuse, is a candidate for the Missouri Senate.

Herschel Walker, accused by his ex-wife of domestic violence and harassment, is the Republican candidate for the Senate of Georgia.

With men like these, is it any wonder that more women identify as Democrats than Republicans by nearly 10 points?

Or that the two Bushes, George HW and George W., had approval ratings in the 70s among women, but Trump’s were only in the 30s?

Gone are the days of Todd Akin, and gone are the days when comments like his were immediately denounced by Republicans. Now we’re inundated with Akins, and party leaders barely blink.

SE Cupp is the host of “SE Cupp Unfiltered” on CNN. A longtime political commentator and curator, she is the author of “Losing Our Religion: The Liberal Media’s Attack on Christianity” and co-author of “Why You’re Wrong About the Right: Behind the Myths.”

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